U.S. Treasury Seen Loser in Tax-Avoiding Pfizer Deal
Ian Read, chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc., center, arrives at Portcullis House to give evidence to Parliament's Business, Science and Technology Select Committee in London on May 14, 2014.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergIf Pfizer Inc. is successful in its $98.7 billion takeover of London-based AstraZeneca Plc, there is one big potential loser: the U.S. Treasury.
Under the proposed deal’s structure, the combined company would be owned by a new U.K. parent. That doesn’t mean any of New York-based Pfizer’s executives would need to move abroad: Chief Executive Officer Ian Read has said the drugmaker would be run from the U.S. It does mean, however, that Pfizer is joining a wave of U.S. companies using mergers as ways to slash income tax bills by shifting their head office overseas -- often on paper only.